What Does Gout, Heart Disease and Dental Health Have in Common?

Good Morning and welcome to another glorious weekend. There's nothing quite like the smell of freshly brewed coffee, newly baked croissants and intoxicating bacon is there? How cruel the sense of smell can be when it assaults us with these emotive olfactory chemicals that lead us into temptation!

I thought I would throw out this curly one for you so we can start a process of connecting some dots on the matrix of your body. Yesterday I was seeing a patient who, according to her doctor, should have had symptoms of gout according to her inflammatory markers and uric acid levels on her earlier blood tests. Since those results in May we have been working on a few things I saw as a priority for her and not fully aware of where the inflammation was settled in her body, we started with the digestive system.

Although she didn't have symptoms of gout in her feet, she certainly had been experiencing some pain in her hip, but it had settled down quite a lot and only flared when she went off our eating plan earlier set. And there in lies the clue to this question. The link between your joints, your cardiovascular risk factors (inflammation) and your teeth is in the bacteria your body produces in response to food, stress and chemical intervention.

A month after her May results, her June results shows reduced inflammatory markers and uric acid which has dropped remarkably. The program I set for her was simple - digestive support, high strength and purity fish oils and magnesium alongside a diet that reduced post eating inflammation. She also mentioned that her diet went off track a bit in July and her hip pain returned - coincidence? I think not.

Science has discovered that we are more bacterial cells than we are human cells - outnumbered by 10:1. The dental scientific world has also identified that the bacteria in our mouth can greatly impact on the bacterial cells that contribute to inflammation - the pathway to Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. So you literally can become what you eat - its all about the inflammatory aftermath. Keeping the dental bacteria in balance, reducing plaque film and biofilm build up in your mouth and body is a key factor. Here are my 5 top go to food and supplements for all over bacteria, joint, heart, dental health and disease prevention:

1. Aged (Kyolic) garlic -profound manager of bacteria and promoter of arterial protecting nitric oxide
2. Magnesium bis-glcyinate - magnesium bound to the amino acid glycine for optimal transportation to the cell
3. DHA/EPA - high strength and as pure as you can get it - even the Australian TGA standards aren't high enough when it comes to pesticide and heavy metal residues - I use a super clean formula
4. Co enzyme Q 10 - to protect the cardiovascular system and fire up cellular energy for mitochondrial (cell power producers) activity - your heart has the highest concentration of mitochondrial cells and your body needs healthy cells to fight disease and call up your immune system
5. Probiotics - to help with rebalancing the healthy bacteria that bring your microbiome (personal bacterial count of your whole body) back to its best activity.

Remember - gout isn't simply an isolated joint problem, neither is osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and so on...chew on that bone for a while.

As a naturopath I believe that patients are looking for empathy, results oriented and achievable health advice as well as consideration for the family budget when it comes to supplement and remedy selection.Nicky Wood -Gold Coast Naturopath